Paul Petch

The Poulter Valley Track – Arthur’s Pass National Park

The Poulter Valley Track is part of Arthur’s Pass National Park, access is via Mt White Road.

Mt White Road traverses along tussock flats bordering the grand Waimakariri River, with wide sweeping views up the valley. Mt White Road turns off from SH 73, about 25 km east of Arthur’s Pass village. After a kilometre the road crosses the Waimakariri River and follows the true left through to Poulter River and then to Mt White Station. It is approximately 25 km of unsealed road from Mt White Bridge to Poulter River one way, for those on a sufferfest, you can bike it, but we are lazy and prefer the beechy goodness later on, so we drive and pretend we are rally drivers instead.

From December 2007, cyclists are allowed to ride mountain bikes up the Poulter Valley in Arthur’s Pass National Park. This is a three-year, monitored trial, sanctioned by the New Zealand Conservation Authority. The trial was approved through the review of the Arthur’s Pass National Park Management Plan. One condition for mountain bikers The trip offers bikers great scenery, some challenges and two good huts for an overnight stay. Mountain bikers must keep to the specified route. Exploring the bush track beyond Casey Hut or areas beyond Trust/Poulter Hut by bike could result in access being foreclosed. Bikers are asked to be considerate of trampers and others they meet in the valley, as many have supported this trial.

From Mt White Road to park boundary – Grade 3
Park boundary to Casey and Poulter huts – Grade 2
Distance: From start of track to Poulter Hut 27 km
Time: 3 hours 20 min
Experience: Suitable for fit, well-equipped people with low to moderate experience in the backcountry.
Other users: trampers, hunters

The weather is regularly drier in this south-eastern corner of the park than in Arthur’s Pass Village and regions close to or west of the Main Divide. Accordingly, this trip can often be undertaken when conditions elsewhere in the park are unsuitable. The 4WD track starts where Mt White Road crosses Poulter River. Follow the 4WD track for 13 km, across river terraces and fans to reach the park boundary fence. The ride is a grunt in places. This stretch follows a legal road that goes through Mt White Station, so please respect stock and farm activities.
From the park boundary fence, it is easy riding along an old 4WD track over river flats and through bush to Casey Stream and Casey Hut. This is a serviced 16-bunk hut (two hut tickets/night). Beyond the hut, cross Casey Stream but do not take the walking track through the beech forest. Instead, the route for bikers ventures out into the Poulter riverbed for 2 km, crossing the river twice—take care. Follow another 4WD track across river flats for a further 4 km to reach Trust/ Poulter Hut—the end point for mountain bike access.

So that’s the DOC description, it also mentions that this is good ride to take the family and kids. I would suggest not, particularly after the comments we got the first time we made this a picnic ride. It’s not a terribly technical ride apart from the ever growing 4WD ruts and the scree slope, but it is a long ride with a good couple of steep hills, some rocky sections, a couple of big streams to cross and then a couple of bigger streams, plus a number of shingle fans, and swampy bits. Unfortunately, or fortunately for us, the really good riding doesn’t begin until the 18 km mark, and to get there you have done the worst.

It was a great day and still a bit of snow on the mountains to make it very scenic. It was a bit chilly when we started but we have been in this Valley before and it’s a heat sink. Sure enough as the day went on, it got hotter and hotter. After we slogged it to the National Park boundary and kissed goodbye to the 4WD, we encounter a light Nor’Wester as we follow the DOC quad bike track.

We alternate between open tussock grassland, to some beech sections with streams, and fans to break it up. We spy not a soul on the trip in, apart from a lonely bike tyre, which we thought, incorrectly now, was Scott the day before. As we get into a rougher rocky climb, we spot a large blood trail just about the same time we stop seeing the mtb tyre – ooooh!

The area around the Tarn is particularly beautiful and offers another wee climb and beechy goodness. We decide to be good and take the “mtb” option to the Trust Poulter Hut, but after crossing one big stream, the track disappears off a cliff, no markers, and we sure as hell weren’t going to cross the Poulter River looking the way it did. So we back-tracked and went through about 20 min of beech singletrack to meet up with the original track and the quad bike track again. We suspect that the river has taken out part of the track, as the quad bike tracks are much fainter from this point on. The way it is at the moment, some muppet is going to get themselves into trouble trying to cross big rivers or getting lost. Seems silly really.

So on we go, this is all new to me, having only go to the Casey before. Colin tells me he used to have an annual run into the Trust Poulter. The track got better and better as we climbed as did the Nor’Wester, the mountains were certainly getting closer as well. Soon enough we arrive at the Trust Poulter Hut and the end of the mountain bike section. We have a hearty lunch and explore the hut to find it has been vandalised, the door left open, eggs used for the traps splattered inside and out and a window broken, which is a real shame.

We are looking forward to the downward leg, knowing that gravity and the Nor’Wester was on our side. The cool thing about the Poulter Valley is that it’s a pretty even ride, for every uphill, there is a downhill and vice versa on the way back.
On the way back throw the Tarn we spy Humans! – a trio of trampers in good spirits, we have a quick chat and we are soon on our way.

It was good and fast ride back, the couple of hills hurt but we zoomed up them, we pushed up the scree slope and then hit the hills and then careened down the steep hill we curse as we start the ride. Then it’s the last pinch climb and we are back at the car.

A good day and a good track.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 6:22 am and is filed under Bike Rides and tagged with arthurs pass, collin & shailer, MTBNZ contributors, poulter valley, Trails & Rides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.